Matthew McClean, the sole Irish representative in the field at the 2025 U.S. Amateur Championship at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, finds himself two off the qualifying mark at the end of day one.
The Malone man was taking on the tougher Lakes Course in round one and got off to a rough start, bogeying the first, fifth, sixth and seventh holes to fall four-over with just over a third of the round completed.
Back-to-back birdies either side of the turn appeared to have settled the former U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship winner, but a trio of bogeys followed, leaving him on +5 with five holes to go.
He clawed his way back to +3 with further birdies on 15 and 16, but a disappointing bogey on the par-5 17th saw him slip back to +4 which is how he finished.
It leaves him sharing 129th place, but just two off the qualification mark with where 38 players are tied for 64th, with the leading 64 players going into matchplay after 36 holes of strokeplay.
The good news is that of the 10 lowest scores on day one, eight were recorded on the Ocean Course which is where McClean will be playing on day two.
England’s Charlie Forster and Tommy Morrison of the United States share first-round-leader honours after both shot rounds of 66 on the Ocean Course to post -4, with two more Americans, Logan Reilly and Preston Stout, both of whom also played on the Ocean Course on day one, one shot behind.
Other notable names include Luke Poulter, son of Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter, at level-par, alongside Matt Vogt, the Washington-based dentist who qualified for the U.S. Open at Oakmont having caddied there as a junior golfer.
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